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Football player accused of bringing gun to high school

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PLAQUEMINE - A football player at Plaquemine High School spent the weekend locked up in juvenile detention after investigators said he brought a loaded gun to Plaquemine High School Friday.

Authorities said the gun, a .22-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol, was found in an athletic locker. All of this came to light after a football player alerted his coach about the gun one of his teammates brought to school. Investigators said the 16-year-old brought the gun to school to "burn" another football player, which detectives said is the same as threatening to shoot him.

"One of the team members found out, alerted the coach, security officer and sheriff's department came," Iberville Parish School Superintendent, Ed Cancienne said.

The Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office says when they went to confront the juvenile who brought the gun to school, he took off running. He was captured a couple of blocks away from the school.

According to investigators, the chaotic scene unfolded about 20 minutes before the bell rang to dismiss for the day. Tonight, that teen is banned from the school for the next two years.

"The law says he will be expelled from the Iberville Parish School System for four course semesters," Cancienne said. "We have to send a strong signal to the community to the students that we have safe schools and this won't be tolerated."

The teen is not being identified due to his age. However, this is not the first time school leaders said they've had trouble with him.

"He demonstrated behaviors that put him at risk in terms of interrelationships with people," Cancienne said.

The school system is working to make sure he doesn't become another statistic once he gets out of jail.

"We'll do what we can to assist him, home school or help him," Cancienne said. "We'll reach out to social workers to try to create an environment where he can succeed."

It's unclear where the student got the gun and if it was legal. The Investigative Unit has learned the gun had multiple bullets in it when it was recovered.